"Go your way and sin no more." John 8:11 |
Fr. Gerard Murphy makes it clear in an article at First Things that not only did the two-thirds majority NOT happen, but the truth of the matter failed to be included in the report even in a footnote. But read his article for yourself at Rewriting the History of the Synod. Take special note of the statements he quotes from both Austen Ivereigh and Pope Francis claiming that two thirds of the Synod Fathers approved the text of the synod report on which Amoris Laetitia is based. Ah...but not the whole text.
No doubt even if they acknowledge the truth of Fr. Murphy's article, the cheerleaders for Francis can say, "It's such a little lie. Most of the document was approved by two thirds of the Synod Fathers. You rigid folks need to stop quibbling over the paragraphs that could not achieve the two thirds majority but were included anyway by order of the pope." (Wasn't that order an act of rigidity? I don't care how you voted, Synod Fathers, I want the disputed paragraphs included in the final document!)
Here's what Pope Francis told La Stampa:
And so there is a post-Synodal exhortation, which is Amoris Laetitia, which is the result of two Synods, in which all the Church worked, and which the Pope made his own. It is expressed in a harmonious way. It is interesting that all that it contains [Amoris Laetitia], in the Synod it was approved by more than two thirds of the fathers. [Untrue!] And this is a guarantee. A synodal Church means that there is this movement from high to low, high to love. And the same in the dioceses. But there is a Latin phrase, that says that the Churches are always cum Petro et sub Petro. Peter is the guarantor of the unity of the Church. He is the guarantor. [Only when he speaks the truth with clarity.]Pope Francis is claiming to have the authority based on a Synod report that contains...oh...just a wee little lie to change an unchangeable teaching of the Church that marriage is indissoluble and those who have divorced and remarried without a declaration that the first marriage was invalid, may not approach the altar for Communion unless they live as brother and sister. They may, and are encouraged, to participate in the life of the Church by attending Mass and praying, but to come to Communion while continuing to exercise marital rights is a mortal sin of sacrilege.
Pray for the pope, pray for those who idolize the pope, and pray for the Cardinals who were correct to ask for clarification. When we eliminate and undermine the rigidity of unchangeable doctrine (Some things are meant to be rigid!), the foundation of Holy Mother Church is shaken. And that, sadly, is where we are and the reason for so much division.
Remember, it is a division Our Lord Himself predicted. "Do you think I have come to bring peace on the earth? No I tell you, but division." (Luke 12:49-59) It is the division between truth and the lie.
Amoris Laetitia is fundamentally flawed. It is ambiguous and distorts the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage which is a direct attack on the family. Lucia of Fatima said the final battle would be over the family. It has been going on now for decades with the attack on the little ones in the womb through abortion and on the goodness of the marital act by contraception. Now the attack has moved to the marriage bond itself.
God help us to be strong and continue to fight against the name-callers who claim we are rigid and uncompassionate saying we refuse to accompany suffering souls. They are like the "compassionate" drug dealer who provides the next fix to make the addict feel good. Letting the divorced come to Communion without annulment or a commitment to live as brother and sister may feel good in the short term but it defies the teaching of Christ, “Every one who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery.” (Lk 16:18) And Christ is the final arbiter of the truth. Even Peter defies Him at His own peril. "Get behind me, Satan." (Matt 16:23)
This pope seems determined to sow division in the Church. Shame on him. He's also very arrogant about condemning those who are orthodox and take their view from the long established teaching of the Church. This is hardly the behavior to be expected from a valid descendant of Peter.
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